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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, announced Thursday she will be retiring after 16 years in the Indiana Senate and will not be returning for the 2022 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
“It’s been my honor to serve Senate District 4 for the last 16 years,” Tallian said in a statement. “I’m most proud of the work we’ve done to make Northwest Indiana a better place to work and live for Hoosiers in the Region.”
According to The Times of Northwest Indiana, Tallian gave her letter of resignation letter to Senate President Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, shortly before the upper chamber began debating the redistricting bill, House Bill 1581.
Tallian told the newspaper she was not leaving because of the new legislative and congressional maps, which are likely to be approved by the Republican supermajority. Rather, she was tired of fighting against the outsized opposition where Democrats control only 11 of the 50 seats in the Senate.
“It is an extremely difficult job to be a Democrat in the Indiana Senate and over the last 16 years, it has become increasingly difficult,” she said.
Tallian, a 1990 magna cum laude graduate from Valparaiso Law School, joined the Senate in 2005 when she was elected to fill an unexpired term. She was re-elected in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
In 2020, she ran for the democratic nomination for Indiana Attorney General but the party chose former Evansville mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. He subsequently lost to Republican Todd Rokita.
“…I want to thank my neighbors in District 4 for trusting me with your support for the last 16 years,” Tallian’s statement said. “It has truly been an honor to serve, and I am proud to have worked with all of you.”
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